Leg spin - i've lost it.

[Batesy]

Leg spin - i've lost it.

Ok heres the story.

Used to be able to bowl leggies with good drift, dip and turn. Had no worries bowling them. Could do it all day. Put them exactly where i wanted . Snapped a ligament in my thumb and had to have surgery to fix it - no bowling for 3 months. Got back into it and my bowling wasnt as good as it used to be. Been trying to change little things every training to try and make it better, from run up to delivery action to follow through.

I need to completely start again.

Any tips to help me re-invent my bowling to see if i can get it back - or have i lost it?

 

[Jim2109]

Re: Leg spin - i've lost it.

maybe try going completely back to basics? a thumb ligament is a pretty major injury in leg spin terms, its a part of the hand that you really use. so as with any serious injury youll need rehabilitation time. no sports person ever gets an injury like that and just goes straight back to their best first time out. so i guess patience and mental strength are the key.

im not sure what the ideal course of action would be, but im just going to make some suggestions based on common sense/logic.

start out by just spinning the ball between your hands again, id imagine your muscles are all going to need work to get them back to their previous strength, especially if you havent bowled a ball in 3 months, irrespective of the injury! continue to do this right the way through the "rehabilitation", and do it for several hours a day, EVERY day if you can.

the next step from that is to start bowling across a shorter distance without a run up.

then gradually build up to longer distances, and start adding the run up back in. and at the same time try to find your old rhythm and technique. alternatively start from scratch with the technique and just make adjustments based on your specific issues. chances are youll probably end up somewhere close to your old technique by the end though.

then eventually you should hopefully find yourself back where you were before the injury.

what specifically is troubling you at the moment? e.g. struggling to bowl over 22 yards, lack of pace, lack of flight, lack of spin, lack of turn, poor consistency, all of the above, etc, etc?

if you can pinpoint the specific areas that are causing problems then its easier to solve them one at a time. id say the first place to begin is either accuracy or spin. personally id try to get the ball spinning as hard as it was before first. but others might say to get the accuracy first and add the spin later. its a personal preference and much debated. you might find that the injury isnt the cause of any of the problems (e.g. you dont need to change from your old technique) but that simply not having played at all in several months has just caused you to lose all your rhythm and form, and you simply need to refind it.

i only started bowling leg spin in June last year. i practiced really hard all summer, at least 5 hours per week right up to the middle of september, and i think i got to a pretty good standard at times. since then ive practiced maybe 4 times in over 3 months for probably 2-3 hours each time. and whenever i practice now my bowling is pretty bad. the core of what i was doing in the summer is still there, but there is just no consistency. il bowl a great ball, followed by 50 bad ones. the only way i can get back to my best (which was never that great for consistency anyway lol) is to get back to bowling 2 or 3 times a week for long periods. prolonged periods of hard practice are crucial to any type of bowling, but probably even more so for leg spin given the incredible complexity of the action. no other bowling style requires your arm and wrist to work in opposing directions. so timing and rhythm are absolutely crucial (as much as they are for a batsman, maybe more), and that only comes from LOTS of frequent practice.